Once upon a time, the red-haired Neanderthals and modern humans interbred, and this was revealed in 2010 with the decoding of the Neanderthal genome. Many of us today carry 2-7% Neanderthal DNA as a result. Made by two evolutionary anthropology doctoral students, We Burn Daylight plays with ideas of prehistoric imagination and illusion, particularly early Neanderthal culture such as red-painted handprints and suggestions of shamanistic foxes. From the starry cosmos to cave paintings, We Burn Daylight is the original Romeo-and-Juliet scenario in poem-and-film form, questioning our species’ insistence on being the only ones to truly love, mourn, and imagine other worlds.

About the Directors:

Kathleen Bryson’s feature film The Viva Voce Virus was the POWFest Pick for the 2008 Siren Nation Film Festival.

Gwynfryn Thomas’s poems have appeared in a handful of magazines; he has appeared in other people’s films. We Burn Daylight combines his love of anthropology, evolution, and stories.